BibleSupport.com Celebrates One Year Online

Ecclesiastes Shows Us What Life Is When God Has Not Shown Us What Life Is.
"All is vanity", Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:2. It's all meaningless without God. Solomon would have known. He possessed supernatural wisdom. He enjoyed widespread fame and power. As king, his words could alter any aspect of someone's life or even whether someone had a life.

Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, 1 Kings, and 2 Chronicles document Solomon's pursuits: his incredible money, possessions, wisdom, (unparalleled) education, fame, power, women, and wine. Solomon "had it all" by any standard of measurement or definition of success.

Yet, after Solomon had everything this world has to offer, he likens it to "chasing the wind". Solomon's grand pursuits, like the pursuits of people throughout history, were "meaningless, vanity, chasing the wind".

Our pursuits are similar. We chase money, passion, ambition, power, résumé bullet points, and achievements. Some of it might matter for day-to-day survival, but none of it matters in the end. In the end, we die a physical death. We're buried. We're forgotten. Our lives, goals, worries, and pursuits matter little once we die. Some people misunderstand Ecclesiastes because they don't understand: Ecclesiastes shows us what life is when God has not shown us what life is.

Why We Build and Share Bible Study Modules
I've worked with technology all my life and like most others, I measured professional success according to money and achievements. That must be why the BibleSupport.com project has been the most richly satisfying experience of my life. It's my only technical work that is not "vanity", destined to fade away when I die. This project has brought to me a sense of purpose, peace, and satisfaction I've found no where else.

We build and share e-Sword modules, not to build and share modules, but so Bible study may be prepared and shared with others with the ultimate perspective of souls. By equipping others with Bible study tools, we're a part of something larger than vanity. John describes this bigger picture in John 17:3: "And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." John 14:6 also records Jesus' words: "No one comes to the Father except through me."

Christ Centered—Not Christ "Tolerant"
Some today are ashamed to quote the verses above. They bow to their god of tolerance. They say, "all paths lead to God". They seek to re-interpret or dismiss John 1:1-14, since it rules out "tolerant" religious concepts. For them, John 14:6 should be muddied through "tolerance". Soon after this site began, I decided to disallow material that denies the deity of Jesus Christ. Others have opined on the "error" of this position:

"The old site allowed that material", "We can never be certain of the truth", "The truth varies", "Morality is relative", "There's multiple paths to God", "You're being intolerant", "You're excluding the world's fastest growing religion", "Who are you to say what's right?".

Post modernism and political correctness are diseases that have infected Christianity. Tolerance is the inability to say anything is wrong. If nothing is wrong, then nothing can be right. Christ is the cornerstone—the whole point—of Christianity. Don't let others, who have no tolerance for what you believe, intimidate you. I stand proudly behind that early decision not to allow this website to be a part of it.

What a Year!
With 21,000 members and 800,000 downloads, this site has received thank-you's from countless Christians all over the world: seminary professors (from other countries and in the USA), seminary students, pastors of churches, Sunday School teachers, many missionaries, and just normal Christians. One third of our members are pastors, members of pastoral staff, or missionaries. If this ministry ended tomorrow, I would have the deepest satisfaction in the divine difference we've already made in the lives of others.

I'm routinely surprised at the talented people the Lord brings to this website: our moderators who invested so much time, the message board "first responders" to problems, module makers, programmers, and the people who appeared a day, week, or month before we needed a solution--an answer to a prayer not yet prayed! To all of you: you are the answers to others' prayers and your contributions are a part of something much larger!

With our first year nearly complete, I'm really looking forward to what the Lord has in store for our second year. To all those who have contributed: Thank you for making this website the "place to be" in the free Bible software community. God bless you all!

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Origins of the Ecclesiastes thoughts: My church pastor's sermon stimulated my thinking on this subject. I found his sermon series is derived from those making the rounds on the Internet. Darrin Patrick provides an intellectually sound YouTube overview of the Ecclesiastes sermon series.

Click here to view the articles

Congratulations Josh! After a year of working with you and others I too count it a joy to upload Christ-centered modules. May God bless you and others who continue to contribute to the cause of Christ.

Thank you Josh for this incredible site. God is using it in the lives of people all over the world.

I have been studying church history a bit lately and here are a few quotes I have assembled concerning the Word of God in church history. I am actively seaching my church history modules for more. These are a reminder of how blessed we are to be able to study God's word freely. May we not take this blessing for granted!

In 303 A. D. the emperor Diocletian issued a royal decree (EDICT) that EVERY BIBLE SHOULD BE DESTROYED. As a result many Bibles were burned and many Bible believers were put to death. This fierce attack against the Bible did not last too long, because the next emperor was Constantine who allowed freedom of religion and who even ordered copies of the Scriptures to be made.

In 1229 A.D. the Church Council of Toulouse actually forbade the use of the Bible to laymen (the mass of common people; those who were not priests or bishops). Thus for centuries the Roman Catholic church did not want to put the Bible into the hands of the common people.

In response to the Wycliff translation of the NT (the first English translation) ... In 1414, the reading of the English Scriptures was forbidden upon pain of forfeiture “of land, cattle, life and goods from their heirs forever.

The Church Council of Constance declared that Wycliffe was a heretic and this pronouncement was made after he was already dead. Wycliffe's only crime was that he wanted to put the Bible into the hands and into the minds of the English people. In 1428, over forty years after his death, his bones were dug up, his remains were burned and his ashes were thrown into the river Severn.

In the days of Tyndale the English Catholic church had in effect a law that made it a crime punishable by death to translate the Bible into English. One day in 1519, the church authorities publicly burned a woman and six men for nothing more than teaching their children English versions of the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Apostles' Creed!

In 1536 Tyndale was strangled to death and his body burned. He died at the young age of 42. His great crime was that he placed God's Word in English into the hands of the English speaking world. They could imprison Tyndale and kill him but "the Word of God is not bound" (2 Tim. 2:9), and Tyndale's life's work, the Bible he translated, could not be killed or destroyed. It is reported that his last words were these: "Lord, open the King of England's eyes." Less than a year after Tyndale's martyrdom, an edition of the whole Bible, based largely upon Tyndale’s work but without his name, was being circulated and read in England, openly, with the permission of the King, so Tyndale’s dying prayer was already being answered.

It is amazing throughout the history of the church how many millions of christians have been tortured and lost their lives just simply because they have read this book and believed the Words of this book!

http://www.biblesupp...ysword-version/

The above module is essential reading to understand the history of the true church. God has always had a remnant of believers who walked in the simplicity which is in Christ. They have been persecuted, killed, and their history has been mostly destroyed. Maybe one of us will make it into an e sword module soon

www.biblesupport.com is reaching even those who are still living today under the threat of death for reading and studying God's Word.

May we make the most of our unprecedented access to God's Word and the software and materials we have available to study it and may we not take this blessing that we have lightly.

Blessings,
Peter

How grateful I am for your ministry! Happy Birthday and many happy returns (for us, that is, as we keep returning to your wonderful site to download the Bible believing, Christ exalting materials you post!).

May God continue to bless you in your endeavors!

Amen! - I trust God when He says that His Word will never return void.

Isaiah 55:6-13 KJV Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Josh, and everyone else,
I have to admit that this site has to be one of the best out regarding e-Sword resources and modules. And I tend to think its not just so much just about sharing resources and modules, but rather of sharing something of the love of God with each other and to see one another grow and prosper in Christ.

You know, Josh, I don't know what you were thinking when you decided to start this website up, but one thing I can be certain of God's hand is definitely in it, and He certainly has blessed it.

I look at what you have done, and I see the kind of recognition this site and your work has achieved as a result of it. I'm thinking of the e-Sword User Guide as perhaps the crowning glory of recognition by Rick Meyers in making it the official e-Sword documentation.

When I look back at what was before BibleSupport, and the frustrations that was around that, and see what has happened here, and is happening here, I know this much, that God's hand is truly in it. When you said, "Some today are ashamed to quote the verses above. They bow to their god of tolerance," shows how God blesses those who keep true to him, and place him above anything and anyone else, and shows your obedience to God. And if anything this has done, is God honoring you by the way he has blessed this site.

Josh, I really praise God for you, brother, for the work the work you have done here. And on a personal note, I'm glad you have created this site because its a joy and a pleasure to log in see what is actually happening here.

So, in Conclusion to all of this, only remains this:

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday BibleSupport,

Happy birthday to you.

Blessings,

Edited by APsit190, 09 June 2012 - 02:36 AM.

Thank you very much Josh for this great site!
May God continue to bless you.

e-Sword and this site has been such a bessing to me. I am very greatful and appreciative of all the hard work that people put into this site.

God bless everyone

Hello BibleSupport.com,

When Josh, told me that he was working on a new website (back when he was helping me do the E.W. Bullinger cmt.) I was willing to help with what I have (over 5 gigs of modules {which I asked Module Robot} to upload for me. I wanted to bless people with what I have. [loads of resources to study the Word of God].

Truly this site is a blessing all over the world... Can People write how this site been a blessing to you?

Thank you Josh and Staff for all your hard work in maintaining this excellent site. Next year - Double Blessing.

Niobi aka Patchworkid

Thanks Josh. This is a great ministry. If I can be of service to you (or others) with my meager artistic talents, let me know.